Dodgers, Yasiel Puig work out baserunning issues

Dodgers´ Andre Ethier is congratulated by Yasiel Puig after he scored a run at Dodger Stadium Thursday.
David Crane — Staff Photographer

LOS ANGELES >> Tuesday’s team meeting to discuss Yasiel Puig’s latest mistakes wasn’t necessary, in the opinion of A.J. Ellis, but the Dodgers had one nonetheless.

After the 23-year-old Cuban made a pair of baserunning errors in the Dodgers’ 7-5 win over the Diamondbacks in Australia last Saturday and left the game in the ninth inning with an apparent back injury, Mattingly felt a team meeting was necessary to address the problem.

Ellis said Puig was in favor of the meeting and received the veteran advice well.

“I think it says a lot about Yasiel and his character that he wanted to have a meeting,” Ellis said. “He wanted to get out in front of this and he wanted to have himself held accountable to his teammates ... and it’s up to us to help him in that maturity process.”

Puig led off Thursday’s Freeway series opener with a single and scored on Adrian Gonzalez’s RBI single but the Dodgers lost three leads in a 7-5 loss to the Angels in Thursday’s opener of a three-game series to close out the exhibition season.

Zack Greinke allowed two earned runs in six innings, but the Angels scored two of their three unearned runs off the Dodgers starter.

Kohl Calhoun and Howie Kendrick each had two-run singles for the Angels, who scored four runs in the seventh inning to erase their third deficit of the night and render Hanley Ramirez’s two home runs futile.

The Angels totaled 10 hits, five of which Greinke allowed, and Puig had one of the Dodgers’ eight hits

Mattingly, who expressed frustration with Puig in Australia, declined to discuss details of Tuesday’s meeting but more than once stated he was pleased with the result.

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The Dodgers manager made frustrated comments following the season-opening series with the Diamondbacks about various injuries Puig appeared to be suffering. Mattingly and Puig cleared the air Tuesday and have no issues moving forward, according to the Dodgers manager.

“I just think it was a good meeting and I think we’re just looking to get better all the time,” Mattingly said. “I thought it was really good, actually.”

Ramirez and Juan Uribe were very vocal at a meeting, according to espn.com, that previously was described as just being between Puig and Mattingly.

Ellis admitted to frustration with Puig on the field immediately following his blunders, but stressed the Dodgers have to accept the bad with the good from the young Cuban.

“There is give and take and he’s learning,” Ellis said. “We’d rather make an aggressive mistake than make a conservative mistake. He pushes the limit. He pushes it to the edge. Hopefully we can all be good examples and he can take stock and inventory of how the professionals in this clubhouse go about their business.”

Gonzalez hit on elbow

Adrian Gonzalez left Thursday’s game for precautionary reasons after being hit by a pitch on the elbow in the fourth inning.

The Dodgers first baseman was wearing a pad on the elbow, but it didn’t completely protect him from an inside pitch thrown by Hector Santiago.

“He said he felt like he could have kept playing,” Mattingly said. “He had two at-bats, was going to get one more. It didn’t seem worth it. Might as well get ice on that thing and try to keep swelling down if it’s going to be that bad.”

Mattingly is holding out hope Gonzalez will be ready for today’s game against the Angels.

Ryu to start U.S. opener?

Hyun-Jin Ryu is one successful bullpen session from being named the Dodgers’ starter in the U.S. opener Sunday in San Diego.

The second-year pitcher injured his big toe running the bases in the second game of a two-game series against the Diamondbacks in Australia, which he will test when he throws today.

“He looks positive,” Mattingly said. “With that being said, he’s going to throw a pen (Friday), so we can’t really say 100 percent where we’re going to go until we find out how that goes.”

Dan Haren is available to start Sunday after his bullpen session went well today.

It’s not about the price

Dodgers president and part-owner Stan Kasten told the media price isn’t what is preventing more cable networks from carrying SportsNet L.A., the Dodgers new network.

Kasten didn’t allow what price the team was asking, but he did say it not only matches the market for such channels, it’s better than some deals in existence in other cities.

“To be blunt, some of these people, and they know who they are, are already on their own systems paying more than the price that’s out there for teams in smaller markets,” Kasten said. “And so this isn’t about price. It’s about the game of negotiating. And it’s disappointing because fans are suffering.”

Time Warner is the only major cable provider currently carrying SportsNet L.A.

Angels hope trend continues

After pitching sunk them last season, the Angels hope their collective 3.47 earned-run average in the spring, which ranks fourth in the majors, is a sign of things to come.

With unproven offseason trade acquisitions Tyler Skaggs and Hector Santiago along with Garrett Richards behind Jared Weaver and C.J. Wilson in the starting rotation, pitching is the overwhelming question mark for the Angels. The team’s 4.23 ERA in 2013 ranked 24th in the major leagues.

Santiago entered Thursday’s start 1-1 with a 2.76 ERA in the spring. Skaggs is 2-1 with a 4.95 ERA in the spring and Richards is 2-2 with a 3.50 ERA.

Still popular in person

The television deal remains frustrating for plenty of Dodgers fans, but they’re not hesitating to show up in droves to Dodger Stadium. Kasten said the Dodgers will sell about 35,000 season tickets this season.

To put that number in perspective, only seven teams aside from the Dodgers averaged more than 35,000 fans per game last year. That figure simply will be a starting point for the Dodgers, owners of the largest capacity stadium in baseball at 56,000.

Kasten said three million tickets have been sold for the 2014 season, a number only seven teams aside from the Dodgers reached all of last season. Only the Cardinals, Giants, Yankees, Rangers, Tigers, Angels and Phillies sold more than three million tickets in 2013 and the Dodgers already have eclipsed that mark.